Josie Browning dreams of a career in journalism and it looks like she’s on her way when she scores an internship at glossy fashion magazine Sash. She just has to survive the transition from country town to living in the big smoke with her cousin during the week, fight it out with two other interns for the permanent position and try to get through each day without embarrassing herself, but really, how hard can that be?

Life doesn’t go quite as smoothly as Josie hopes. Working at Sash is more about ironing discarded clothing and fetching coffee than writing insightful articles about hard-hitting topics. The days are long, the pay is short and the competition between the interns means Josie can never really relax. Even the silver lining of her cousin’s gorgeous flatmate loses its shine when Josie discovers he has an equally gorgeous girlfriend.

Can Josie prove that she has what it takes to be a journalist amidst all the drama?Several of the promotional quotes for this fun, entertaining YA novel mention The Devil Wears Prada, so I was bracing myself for a ‘gawky country girl joins fashion magazine and is transformed into stunning fashionista by self-obsessed demanding boss’ story. I was delighted to discover that The Intern is so much more than a Devil Wears Prada wannabe.

Josie Browning is a very real, relatable character. At 17-years-old (she turns 18 during the course of the novel), she is just taking the first steps out of school and trying to form some idea of where she wants to go from here, something that mid to late teen readers will certainly identify with.

Josie, her friends, her family and the Sash staff are a wonderful mix of personalities with some great dynamics developing between different characters. Josie’s character is an appealing and very believable mix of adventurous young adult and awkward teen. She has a great sense of fun and her observations and narration of the story provide readers with a very entertaining and well-paced story.

The behind-the-scenes look at the fashion magazine industry has an air of authenticity, as it should given the experience of author Gabrielle Tozer. The Intern is her debut novel, but she has worked for numerous magazines and other publications, which has no doubt provided her with plenty of material for The Intern and future books (including the sequel to The Intern, which is already underway).

Funny and entertaining with an element of real-life challenges and issues, The Intern is smart chick-lit for mid-teens and older.